They say that nothing is as American as appie pie. This is a blog for things that Americans might enjoy. Foreigners welcome.

Saturday, August 19, 2006

Bush Upset He Can't Spy on Americans

Any Libertarian in America could have told you that Bush's wiretapping of our phone calls without a warrant violated the 4th amendment. It's great to see that a federal judge finally agrees with us. And many thanks to the A.C.L.U. for bringing this case to court.

And it reminds me of a quote from Ben Franklin, "They that give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."

A federal judge in Detroit ruled on Thursday that a National Security Agency program to tap the international communications of some Americans without a court warrant violated the Constitution, and she ordered it shut down.

Judge Taylor ruled that the program violated both the Fourth Amendment and a 1978 law that requires warrants from a secret court for intelligence wiretaps involving people in the United States. She rejected the administration’s repeated assertions that a 2001 Congressional authorization and the president’s constitutional authority allowed the program.

“It was never the intent of the framers to give the president such unfettered control, particularly when his actions blatantly disregard the parameters clearly enumerated in the Bill of Rights,” she wrote. “The three separate branches of government were developed as a check and balance for one another.”